Bette Davis Eyes

Album

Stand by you

Label

EMI America Records

Genre

New wave

Composer(s)

Jackie DeShannon;Donna Weiss

Entered Chart

Mar 28, 1981

Peak Date

May 16, 1981

Released

March 1981

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

EMI America 8077

B-Side

Miss You Tonite

This was originally recorded in a 1920s Jazz style by Jackie DeShannon on her 1975 album, New Arrangement. DeShannon wrote the song with the songwriter Donna Weiss. According to DeShannon, she got the idea for the song after watching the 1942 Bette Davis movie Now Voyager. It was Donna Weiss who submitted the demo to Carnes, who along with her band and producer Val Garay, came up with the hit arrangement for the song. This was a huge hit in the US, where it was #1 for nine weeks. It was not, however, the year's biggest hit. "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John was #1 for ten weeks. The producer of this song had an assistant go out and buy the cheapest (and cheapest-sounding) drum set for this particular song. Combined with the sound of an early synthesizer called a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, they found the sound they were looking for and the song was a hit. Carnes credits her keyboard player Bill Cuomo making significant contributions to the chord changes and arrangement. >> Carnes had several other hits before and after this, but none even close to this big. She was a member of The New Christy Minstrels before recording as a solo artist. Bette Davis was an actress known for playing strong, independent women. Her movies include What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? and All About Eve. She was famous for her New England accent and her eyes. This won the 1981 Grammy for Record of the Year, and in America, it was the third-best-selling single of the '80s, after Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and the Diana Ross/Lionel Richie duet "Endless Love." After this song became a hit single, Bette Davis wrote letters to Kim Carnes and the songwriters to say she was a fan of the song and thank them for making her "a part of modern history." One of the reasons the legendary actress loved the song is that her granddaughter thought her grandmother was "cool" for having a hit song written about her. Carnes raspy vocals led many listeners to believe Rod Stewart was the vocalist. The video was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who made many of the early MTV favorites. His videos were very artistic and filled with unexpected scenes. The costumed crowd smacking the floor and each other in time to the drum machine was a typical Mulcahy touch. The video was huge on MTV and gave the song a big boost. Jackie DeShannon told Uncut magazine: "Donna Weiss and I were writing quite a bit at the time, and we both liked black and white movies. Donna had written many pages, and I was fooling around with the melody, and we pieced together 'Bette Davis Eyes.' We made a demo with a much more rock-and-roll feel. That's what I thought we were going to do, but the producer had another concept. It turned out OK. I don't dislike it, but it was not my concept. It had been out a long time, and Donna gave it to Kim Carnes with something else on the tape. Kim liked it and that was that. Her version was much closer to the demo version."

Her hair is Harlow gold
Her lips a sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll turn her music on you
You won't have to think twice
She's pure as New York snow
She got Bette Davis eyes

And she'll tease you, she'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
She got Greta Garbo's standoff sighs, she's got Bette Davis eyes

She'll let you take her home
It whets her appetite
She'll lay you on a throne
She got Bette Davis eyes
She'll take a tumble on you
Roll you like you were dice
Until you come out blue
She's got Bette Davis eyes

She'll expose you, when she snows you
Off your feet with the crumbs, she throws you
She's ferocious and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy, she's got Bette Davis eyes

She'll tease you, she'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy, she's got Bette Davis eyes

She'll tease you
She'll unease you
Just to please you
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll expose you
When she snows you
'Cause she knows you, she's got Bette Davis Eyes
She'll tease you